Thanks again, it is a nice country with very friendly people, I am having a good time.

Yes, it is elm indeed, a rare wood as almost all elm trees have died because of a diseaseI have spoken to a carpenter, and he said it should be the ideal wood for building congas, dense, tough, but not too heavy.But rare, hence the price...

Yeah these drums are pricy indeed... I guess in this price range I could buy any drum (SoS, Moperc etc) so any reason to take them over other makers? Elm wood looks great to this job - some time ago I missed an elm bongos on ebay.... what's a pitty.

I feel they sound a little bit less folcloric and could better mix with non traditional cuban music... but I'm not an expert.

And yeah taxes + duties are about 25% in my country - not always custom office wants to pay it but it is better to add them to overall price in advance so:

Skin on Skin and Moperc + 25% = 675 Euro

And shipping - I don't know how much it would be. Munz & Simonsen is 25 Euro per drum - the others probably 100 Euro per drum.

So Mike you're right - Sos and Moperc are more expensive about 100 Euro per drum ...but it is not as much to take price as a factor.

More important for me as an European guy is less troubles with shipping, paying and possibility to return within 14 days, but always the sound will be a main factor. Personally I haven't played any of these drums - only mass produced. I heard recordings with moperc and skin on skins too - sound amazing. I also like M & S but heard only one recording from their website and slaps are not as much crispy as I like - open tones and others are great. Now I'm selling my drums and I guess I will be looking for a good quinto so I'm digging and M & S is serious shot to concider:D

I don´t think it´s brighter. We mounted some powerful spots in this room.

consciousnist wrote:just came across that Requinto that sits all alone at Schalloch so far, but it well impressed me,will take a closer look at the ones you have in possession if possible.

Here is a panorama shot inside the Schalloch percussion section, where you can see the requinto standing in the rack http://www.panohost.de/flash/percussion.html . Maybe it is actually a quinto, because all M&S sizes are comparatively slim. Btw. there is also a Sonor conga in the design of the late 80ies!

Okay. We should meet in near future. Then I could show you my old Rauls as well.